Phosphate....my take on things

[shouse]

OK, so let me see if i get this straight. You actually have holes in the bottom of your tank where u have a pump connected to tubing. Than the tubing connects to you PVC platform and you can have different outshoots coming off of the platform, ie the black loc-lines. the rest comes out underneath the rock to clear detritus. You hide your pumps by actually running the pumps through the bottom of your tank. This is all correct right?
If so, than how do u make a hole in your tank to do that? would it be just like drilling a hole for piping for a fuge? Wouldnt i have to worry about glass cracking?
Thanks for answering all of these n00b questions and being on so frequently, your just so good at it!

 

[benj2112]

Wow, Wow, Wow...

I can't wait for that indepth webpage!!! :jumping:

 

[steveweast]

Shouse... My tank is not glass..but rather, 1 inch thick acrylic. That photo above is of me with a drill in my hand drilling one of the holes for the closed loop. Past that...I think you got it.

 

[shouse]

i guess this brings up a previous question. I've heard of people drilling holes in their glass aquarium fuges for attaching PVC tubings. I didnt think it was possible to drill holes in glass aquariums so maybe i misunderstood somehwere. If so, how could i do it? thanks

 

[benj2112]

You can drill in glass tanks...just not tempered glass I believe. You do need a special drill bit ($50 -$100 depending on what you are looking for) and a drill press that is open on the bottom so you can position the tank properly.
Or you can save some money if this isn't going to happen but once a blue moon and find a specialy glass place and see if they will drill for you.
That is my understanding of how it works after looking into it around my area.

 

[benj2112]

Ohh yeah, you can use a regular drill, but the pros told me you can really screw up and shatter the glass if you are not careful.
:scared:

 

[shouse]

yea i figured this out after searching the forums. The understanding was also that most bottoms in an aquarium are tempered. With that understanding i could not do Steve's platform design exactly. I could route the pumps to go through the very bottom of teh back side and than go into the platform. the only difference is i woudl have to make sure to put rock all the way leading to the back of the aquarium where the tubes are. Other than that it should work great. THis is all very interesting.

 

[jjboods]

Wow! Steve, you are the man!! I know we have gotten off topic a bit, but your tank is so awesome that we all have many questions. I recently had a major algae bloom and lost my fish. The only things still alive are snails and hermit crabs. Since I am planning on moving to a 75 soon anyway, I have not done much other than maintaining the tank. This may not be the place for a lenghty discussion, but I would like some advice on my new setup. I am pretty handy and would like to use some of the ideas I've seen in this thread...mostly yours, Steve. I was wondering if you'd allow me to PM you or email you to ask some more detailed questions and have you advise me on my new setup? You can email me at jldamico@yahoo.com. Thanks. I hope to hear from you.

 

[beachbumtx]

I skipped over a few of the posts, so I apologize if it was already asked, but how much do phosphate reactors usually run?

 

[shouse]

depends on teh reactor. I think the cheapest we were seeing is the Phosban reactor 150. That' only $35 plus shipping i believe. ROWPHOS isnt that cheap however. check out the beginning of this thread to see the phosban. There's also Lifguard for i think $64 if i'm not mistaken.

 

[timg]

Steve,
One question for you, how do you have the input setup for your closed loop? I am planning and setting up a 180 in wall and am planning on having a closed loop in addition to my sump. Do you have seperate over flow boxes for the closed loop or are they situated in the the overflows used for the sump? The reason I am asking is that I plan on purchasing an all glass aguarium with two overflow boxes rated at 600gph each(only enough to run the sump). I would like to set up a platform manifold such as yours for a closed loop but can't figure the best way for the input(would like at least another 1800gph). Any help with be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Tim

 

[steveweast]

My closed loop intakes are drilled through the bottom of my tank and are enclosed in a cage made from eggcrate. These are located in the rear of my tank and are easily accessible for the occasional cleaning. If your closed loop goes into an overflow...it is no longer a closed loop.

 

[trompet3]

steve-
sorry to bring this thread even more off topic and scare you even more from posting on this board for fear of being bombarded but...just curious why you chose acrylic vs. glass? When setting up that size what are the issues?

 

[toughguy80]

Melody,
Please keep us posted on the bed filter on this or another thread. I'm very interested in getting one but would like to get an opinion on the matter before I buy. Thanks

 

[shouse]

Steve,
You just used regular pumps right? and where did you get the black loc-line tubing? I'm really interested in trying to do something like that for my 75g. thanks

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by latino277
Steve, THX for this thread... it is great.

I'll second that..Steve has shared some great info over the past few days.
Steve, It almost sound like using an algae scrubber (what most here call a fuge) is useless if your using a PO4 reactor?

 

[trompet3]

loc-line tubing can be puchased at many aquarium stores both online and at lfs. google search for that and fish

 

[steveweast]

Trompet3... acrylic can be drilled easily, is light weight, is more clear than glass (even starfire), doesn't require a metal frame on large tanks, is cheaper............. but, it does scatch easier than glass.
golfish.......I wouldn't say useless.. refugiums serve a similar function as the reactor (but, not as efficient)....so, I would say that "redundant" might be a better word.

 

[druluv]

Can the reactor take the place of the mud filter w/ macro algae

 

[steveweast]

druluv....it depends what you are using the fuge for...
can a reactor grow pods...no
can a reactor reduce nitrate......no
can a reactor reduce phosphate....yes, better than a fuge
Many tanks are like mine in that phosphates are a problem (because of the high bio-load) and a fuge will not be able to keep up....unless the fuge is huge. I have no nitrate problem thanks to adequate amounts of liverock and I don't care about pods....therefore, a reactor serves my purposes best.